16 hurt in two southern bombings; one shot dead
Twelve people were injured when a powerful bomb went off near a teashop in central Yala yesterday evening, and a village official was shot dead and four people injured in militant attacks elsewhere in the troubled deep South.
Police said the bomb, hidden in a telephone booth near the shop, had probably been set off remotely. A resident of the area heard the blast from a kilometre away.The victims, many of whom suffered serious injuries, were taken to the nearby Yala Regional Hospital. Police blocked off the scene as crowds gathered to look at the damage. Meanwhile, rail services linking the upper and lower South resumed yesterday under heavy security, four days after being suspended due to a spate of attacks on trains. A helicopter escort was provided to protect trains running between Hat Yai and southernmost district of Sungai Kolok. In Narathiwat, militants shot dead Hami Wani, 45-year-old deputy head of the remote village of Ban Salo, at about 1pm as he was driving home from Rangae district with two assistants. The assistants, Hamu Jehvo and Muhamad Nikaji, were injured. A roadside bomb in the province's Muang district injured two marines on patrol with four colleagues to guard teachers on their way to school. Two wooden buildings of the Ban Pohming school in Pattani's Panare district were burned to the ground at about 4am yesterday. A school building in Yala's Krong Pinang district was also set on fire early yesterday. Police suspect the arsonists in Panare are the same that set fire to schools and public-health centres in neighbouring Sai Buri district earlier this week.
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